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20/03/2012

New Album Due From Neil Young

Neil Young & Crazy Horse are due to release their new album Americana this coming June. For fans, there are two sides to Neil Young: electric Neil and acoustic Neil. On his latest album, though, it seems that the seminal songwriter is planning to blur those definitions further than ever before.

Americana features Neil Young re-working a number of folk standards from North America. Curiously, though, the singer is joined by Crazy Horse for their first full partnership since Broken Arrow. Rolling Stone points fans towards a quote from Neil Young's appearance at Slamdance earlier this year;

"A very young choir of children plays with Crazy Horse (on the album). They're songs we all know from kindergarden, but Crazy Horse has rearranged them, and they now belong to us."

A press release quote about Americana reveals a little more of what to expect.

"What ties these songs together is the fact that while they may represent an America that may no longer exist"

"The emotions and scenarios behind these songs still resonate with what’s going on in the country today with equal, if not greater impact nearly 200 years later. The lyrics reflect the same concerns and are still remarkably meaningful to a society going through economic and cultural upheaval, especially during an election year. They are just as poignant and powerful today as the day they were written."

Recorded at Audio Casa Blanca, the LP was seemingly produced by Neil Young himself with assistance from John Hanlon and Mark Humphreys. And somewhat curiously, Americana ends with a rendition of God Save The Queen. Must be a Jubilee year thing? ...